Bangkok
- Angus
- Oct 3, 2017
- 3 min read
Over the course of a month we have been in and out of Bangkok, using it as a starting home base more times than we can recall with each stint lasting roughly 3-4 days. In order to simplify the blog and for my own sanity I will just talk about the highlights of all our stays (in no particular order). We were fortunate to have a friend living in Bangkok, and we were grateful to him and his wife for providing us the hospitality each time and showing us around the city in their free time.
Soi Cowboy
Situated about a 10 minute walk from where we were staying, this red light district has a more laid-back feeling to it than Khao San Road or Nana Plaza. The street, which is illuminated by blinding neon signs, has around 20 bars on it with free entry and fixed drinks prices. Our favourite bar was Country Road, a bar at the entrance to Soi Cowboy that offers free pool during happy hour and has live music most nights as well as live football screenings and fairly cheap pitchers. Bangkok.com actually provide quite a good summary of the other bars that are around that area if the above description doesn't quite entice you. Hunter highly recommends the Ping Pong Show and the Hangover II was in-part filmed on this street.
Khao San Road
In Alex Garland's 'The Beach' Khao San Road is described as "the centre of the backpacking universe" and it's easy to see why once you set foot on this busy street. You can find almost anything on this street. Bars, lots of them, street-food vendors, tacky clothes merchants, tattoo parlours, hostels, a 7-Eleven and even a 24-Medical Clinic, presumably for all the late night injuries and accidents. That being said, one can't help feel that it is a shadow of its former self and rarely lives up to the hype that it is given thanks to recent crackdowns from local government aiming to improve the image of the area. There are still parties and it is still full of backpackers but by 2AM everything is closed. Still though, we managed to enjoy more than a few buckets and watch Wales beat Georgia and sample some of the local cuisine (Scorpion on a stick).
Eating:
Over the recurring visits to Bangkok we sampled quite a few different restaurants and street vendors, here are our picks (because I cannot for the life of me remember every detail);
Cabbages and Condoms - The attractive decor in this restaurant coupled with the great Thai cuisine make it a delightful place to go for a meal. The bonus is that the restaurant was set up to promote a better understanding and acceptance of family planning and to generate income to support development activities related to sexual health.
Chinatown - Lek and Rut or T&K seafood - These two seafood restaurants in the heart of Chinatown are an excellent way to take a rest from roaming the busy markets in this hectic part of Bangkok. The seafood here is fast, fresh, cheap and plentiful which is what you need after spending a couple of hours wandering around in the heat. Make sure to go inside to escape the humidity and have a breather in the air-conditioned rooms.
Cinema Winehouse - If you are based near Khao San Road but want to enjoy a bit of down-time away from the party, this is the place to do just that. The menu is quite diverse and you can enjoy your meal whilst watching some of the latest releases in English on a projector.
Culture:
The temples were all closed during our stay due to the King's Death Anniversary and the Cremation of the King, which meant that we didn't get to really go inside any of them. Instead we wandered around looking from the outside and thought to ourselves that actually, when compared to Angkor Wat or Old Bagan, it wasn't that much of a loss for us.
Jim Thompson, a former CIA operative that fell in love with Thailand, spent time researching classical Thai houses and eventually built himself a compound in the heart of Bangkok. After this he reintroduced the ancient art of Thail Silk Weaving and set up a traditional Thai Silk shop before mysteriously going missing "whilst on a hike" in Malaysia. He was supposedly eating by tigers but having left his smokes in his room and vanished without a trace our investigation concluded that it must have been an inside job. The house itself has a charming element to it and the tour provides great insight into the distinct design and the history of the buildings and inner art collections.
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